Will you look at that! The first gerbil photos from James Rice! As longtime readers know, James has sent many, many more photos of his incredibly well-traveled gerbil Speedy over the years. In fact, I have a bunch of Speedy photos I've been meaning to post. In January, for example, James informed me that Speedy "took a Skin Horse themed vacation to visit sled dogs in northern Canada."

James continues:

Of course while there, he also checked out the local polar bears from a Tundra Buggy.

He stayed in a former military rocket base turned research center and flew on a helicopter over the frozen wastes.

But Northern Canada in late October is cold. So Speedy immediately left for warmer Tunisia next.

He visited local ruins and the film sets of Star Wars movies. He ate dates, rode on a camel, and on a burro.

He was also invited to dinner with a falcon.

Speedy has now visited more than ten countries on four continents, (not counting the impostor visiting Antarctica). He has been along for many world automotive speed records, including the fastest electric, fuel-cell, steam, diesel, ethanol, Formula One, NASCAR, and several other classes, as well as the fastest open wheel motorcycle. He also has a celebrity Facebook page where you can "fan" him: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Speedy/206129972101

On today's monumental rerun, James writes:

Speedy will be celebrating this occasion by relaxing on a beach in Florida. Little did anyone of us know at the time where this thing was was going to go, and I mean both the concept and the gerbil. He was only a few days old in those photos, having arrived just the day before I left for Bonneville. I had said that he was "the fastest gerbil on Earth," which you translated into "the "world's fastest gerbil." That lead to some complaints that any gerbil that had been in an airliner had been faster. That of course lead to the rocket launch. But that's a future story.